Fire-door.



PATENTJED MAY 12, 1903.

0. E. SIMPSON.

FIRE DOOR- APPLICATION FILED MAR. 18. 1901.

NO MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

. icm a-som Tu: NORRIS PETERS co.. wmourno. WASHINGTON, u. c

No. 727,854. I PATENTED MAY 12, 19Q3'.

O. E. SIMPSON. i

FIRE DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.18. 1901.

H0 MODEL. l 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

m: NORRIS PETERS no PHOYO-UTRO" WASHINGTON, 0.1:v

UNITED STATES Patented May 12, 1903.

FFICE.

PATENT FIRE-DOOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 727,854, dated. May 12, 1903.

Application filed March 18, 1901. Serial No. 51,639. a (No model.)

To all whom it may concern/.- p Be it known that I, CHARLES E. SIMPSON, a

citizen of the United States, and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook andState of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fire-Doors; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.-

This invention relates to improvementsin fire-doors, and more-particularly to a fire door designed to be automatically self-closing at a temperature predetermined. Heretoforc many types of fire-doors have been devised,-

some of which are designed to close automat-' ically and many of which are expensive in tion of a wall provided with a door embodying my invention, showing the same in its open position. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the door closed.

In said drawings, A indicates a wall (as shown of brick or tile, though obviously the same may be of any'desired material) provided with a door-aperture therethrough.

B B indicate two half-doors oppositely movable and of such a size that when brought together they entirely close the door-aperture. Said half-doors are slidably secured in ways 0, herein shown as metallic and rigidly bolted to the wall in 'a vertical position and each having permanently secured thereon a sheave 0, through which passes a chain or other flexible connection (3. The upper end of said chain is secured near the bottom of the halfdoor B, and the other end extends downwardly along the ways and is secured to a rod 0 rigidly secured on thelower half door B and extending upwardly therefrom. As shown, said lower half-door is provided at its top with a transverse flange'ofmetal projecting laterally from the door transversely desired kind; 7 'door and below said sheave D is rigidly secured a trip mechanism E, which is provided of said ways, and said rods 0 pass through the ends of said flange and are rigidly secured thereto by means of a nntor the like.

Said half-doors are approximately of thesame weight and when opened normally remain in said position, each serving tocounterbalance the other. The length of said chains and rods is such that said half-doors meet centrally when in their closedposition, with the upper end of saidrods terminating at the sheaves. For the purpose of automatically actuating said doors to close the same a sheave Dis securedupon the Wall centrally above the door and a weight D supported thereon by means of a chain 61, one end of which is permanently secured to the wall and contains a fusible or thermostatic link of any At eachside of and'above the with an inwardly-swinging latch e and alevered hook e, adapted to be normally held in a supporting position by means of said latch, as shown in Fig. 1. A chain or other flexible connection connects said latches e, and said weight D is connected thereto by means of a chain a which is normally slack.

G indicates rods or arms projecting laterally beyond the ways and rigidly secured 'to the half-door B, near the top thereof, and'vertically apertu red near the ends thereof. A rod g extends downwardly through each of said arms and is straight for the greater part of its length, and theendsof each rod are'bent parallel with each other and apertured to receive the rod g, which extends therethrough.

A relatively short chainfprovided with an enlarged link at its upper end for engagement with the hook e of-the trip mechanism is secured on the upper end of each rod g. \Veights are rigidly secured on each rod g, one of which on each rod, as shown, is an enlargement or ball g located intermediate of the ends of the rod and in position to support the rods 9 g from arms G when the doors are in their open position, asshown in Fig. 1. A weight G is rigidly secured on each 'of the rods g g at the upperend thereof, which project laterally a suiticient distance to carry said weight away from the rod g 9'. weight G is secured on the lower end of e rod 9'.

The operation of my device is as follows: The door may be opened or closed ordinarily as other doors, without recourse to the emergency mechanism, therods g 9 being of such length as not to interfere with the ordinary movements of the half-doors in closing. The length of the chain c limits the distance that the half-door B may descend and the halfdoor B ascend. Should the temperature in the air above the doors rise to the dangerpoint, and obviously the temperature will always be highest in the top of a room, the fusible link (1' parts, permitting the weight D to drop, thereby jerking the latches e e inwardly by means of the chains 6 and releasing the triplevers. The chains are thereby released from the hooks thereof, and the rods g g fall. When the support of said rod g is removed from the rods g and weights G, they fall and engage the bracket'arms G G, so that the entire gravity of the weights G G and rods 9 g is added to the normal weight of the half-door B, thereby causing the same greatly to overbalance the weight of the halfdoor 13 and to descend and pull up the halfdoor B. Should the half-doors not close under the impulse given by the gravity of the weights G G and rods g g, the enlargements on the rods g g as said rods fall at last engage the ends of the rods g g, thereby giving an additional closing impulse to the halfdoors. It will thus be seen that a plurality of closing impulses may by the means described be given to the half-doors, insuring that the doors will be effectively closed.

Obviously a device of the class described may be used to close any opening in a wall. It is not imperative, however, that the apparatus be embodied with a vertically-movable door, inasmuch as a similarly-operating device can be made to close laterally-movable doors.

Many details of construction may be varied without departing from the principle of this invention.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination with parallel ways, of oppositely movable half doors slidably secured in said ways, means whereby movement in one of said doors produces opposite movementin the other, and means whereby Weights normally unsupported on the doors act in a plurality of impacts to close said doors at a given temperature.

2. In a device of the class described, the combination with parallel ways, of half-doors oppositely movable therein, means for limiting such movement, weights slidably connected with the door, means for normally supporting the weight free from the door and means for releasing said weights onto the door in a plurality of impacts at a predetermined temperature thereby closing the door.

3. In a device of the class described, parallel ways, oppositely-movable mutually-countel-balancing half-doors slidably secured in said ways, means for limiting the movement of said doors, distinct weights normally supported free from said half-doors at different,

heights, means for releasing said weights to strike in succession upon one of said doors at a predetermined point in temperature.

4. In a device of the class described, parallel ways, oppositely-movable mutually-counterbalancing half-doors secured therein, a sheave rotatably secured on said ways, a flexible connection secured on each of said doors passing through said sheave, apertured arms on one of said doors, a rod secured therein extending parallel with said ways, a weight on said rod, a trip mechanism located adjacent to said doors and supporting the rod and weight free from said arms and means for releasing said trip mechanism therefrom at a predetermined temperature, thereby permitting the rod and weight to fall upon said arms and to actuate said half-doors to close.

5. The combination with parallel vertical ways, of an upper and a lower half-door oppositely movable therein, flexible connections between said half-doors, a sheave secured on each way over which sheaves said connections pass, apertured arms on the upper door, a rod having a weight thereon slidably secured therein and extending downwardly along each way, said rod being bent outwardly and apertured at its ends, a weighted supportingrod secured in said apertures, means thereon engaging and supporting the first-named rod, a trip mechanism located above and on each side of the door and on which said supporting-rods are secured and means for automatically releasing the trip mechanism at a predetermined temperature.

6. In a device of the class described, vertical ways, oppositely-movable counterbalancing half-doors secured therein, flexible connections between said doors, sheaves on said ways over which said flexible connections extend, apertured bracket-arms on the upper door, a guide-rod passing through said apertures having its ends bent outwardly and apertured, a weight secured on said guiderod, a supporting-rod normally supported on trip mechanism at the side of the doors, an enlargement thereon on which said guide-rod and the weight thereof are supported, flexible connections between said trip mechanism and a weight attached thereto and fusible means forming the connection.

7. In a device of the class described, oppositely-movable half-doors, a plurality of slidably-connected weights supported free from and above the doors on each side thereof, trip mechanisms located above and on each side of said doors, and flexible connections between the same, a weight suspended by a chain having a fusible link, and loosely connected to the flexible connections, said weight when released acting automatically to release the slidably-connected weights on each side of the door, whereby a plurality of impulses is exerted to close the doors.

8. In a device of the class described, a door,

IIO

a rod apertured at its ends slidably secured thereon, a weight attached thereto, a weighted rod passing through said apertured ends and slidably secured to the apertured rod and normally engaging and supporting the same with its weight free from the door.

9. In a device of the class described, the combination with parallel ways, of slidable doors therein, a plurality of slidably-connect ed Weights supported free from and above the doors on each side thereof, and slidably connected therewith, trip mechanism located above and on each side of said doors and connected with said weights, a flexible connection between said trip mechanisms, a weight loosely connected with said flexible connection and normally supported free therefrom by fusible means.

10. In a device of the class described, the combination with parallel ways, of doors slidable therein, a weight suspended centrally above said doors by a chain having a fusible weights adapted to receive an impacttherefrom at a predetermined temperature.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

' CHARLES E. SIMPSON.

In presence of CHARLES W; HILLS, ANNA B. HILLS. 

